The Tree of Life

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 231 -365

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the tree of knowledge and the tree of life, are both forms of the world tree or cosmic tree

The Tree of Life in Myth

'Buddhism tells of Sakyamuni’s birth and a flash of light that travelled around the world that sparked the first growth of the Tree of Perfection – a sacred  fig tree

 that it is said to have been four hundred feet high that bloomed with flowers and fruit that glowed and glistened.  It is said that the Buddha was born, received his enlightenment, preached his first sermon and died all under the Bodhi tree. Some say he sat under the tree for six years protected by the tree while he was enlightened. 

In Judeo-Christian parable in the Book of Genesis there are actually two trees, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. A tree planted by God in the Garden of Eden that Adam and Eve are commanded and warned not to eat from (it is the Tree of Knowledge that God explicitly warned them about) but are tricked by a crafty and cunning serpent who promises that they will become as wise as God, that they will know knowledge and wisdom (consciousness of duality) and never die if they eat. They indulged in its fruit and they were cast out and banished from the garden. The prophet Enoch describes the tree as bearing  like grapes with a beautiful fragrance. Talmudic scripture suggest that Eve made wine from the fruit. It is the Tree of Knowledge that Christ is said to have been crucified upon.

Sumerian Clay tablet is dated c. 2,500 BCE.  The original Sumerian (Indo-Iranian) concept was that wisdom is likened to a tree whose fruit endows those who eat it with health and longevity. The symbol of an elixir of life had already been well established in antiquity by the Indo-Iranian cultures long before Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other cultures had the opportunity to recognise it. This 4,500 year old clay tablet shows a man and a woman seated below the Tree of Life. Behind the woman is seen a serpent allegedly ‘tempting’ the woman.   

In Norse mythology Yaggdrasil is the holy Ash World Tree surrounded by nine worlds. It is said to connect the Underworld to Heaven with its branches and roots. Odin is said to have hung on the tree for nine days, self-sacrificed so that he could bring the wisdom of the runes to his people. Once again, from the symbol of the tree flows human awareness and consciousness. 

In Egypt the Holy Sycamore is said to stand on the threshold of life and death, connecting the worlds.  It stands at the Eastern gate of Heaven from which the sun rises each morning.  A number of different types of trees had different functions and were sacred to different Egyptian deities.

In alchemical traditions the Arbor Philsophica is another tree that is said to bear alchemical symbols representing the seven planets and the processes of alchemy. These planets correspond to the seven metals gold, silver, copper, iron, mercury, lead and tin which were all said to grow on the tree. The tree is said to grow from the ground or sometimes from the body of man. Jung speaks of a dream where he sees a tree with branches of gold, silver, steel and mixed iron which he realises corresponds to the Arbor Philsophica and symbolises growth and illumination'. 

Other examples of trees featured in mythology are the Banyan and the Peepal (Ficus religiosa) trees in Hinduism

, and the modern tradition of the Christmas Tree in Germanic mythology, the Tree of Knowledge (Kabbalah) of Judaism and Christianity, and the Bodhi Tree in Buddhism.

 In folk religion and folklore, trees are often said to be the homes of tree spirits. Historical Druidism as well as Germanic Paganism appear to have involved cultic practice in sacred groves, especially the oak. The term druid itself possibly derives from the Celtic word for oak.

Tree Spirits 

To the ancient Greeks and Romans, trees were thought to be inhabited by female spirits called Dryad (in

(oak Tree)

oak trees) or Meliae (in ash trees).

(ash trees)

In Greek drys signifies 'Oak' from an Indo-European root *derew(o)- 'tree' or 'wood'. In Scottish folklore a friendly tree spirit, called the Ghillie Dhu, helps lost children find their way home. 

Japan is home to a rich tradition encompassing various tree spirits, generally called Kodama. Traditionally, foresters made offerings to the Kodama before cutting a tree down.

    

The Jasmine

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 230-365

The jasmine shrubs and vines (lianas) belong to the Jasminum genus and feature beautiful white, yellow or pink flowers that give off a heady aroma.

They are filed in the Oleaceae (Olive) family, where you will find other plants like olive (Olea europaea), border forsythia (Forsythia x intermedia), common lilac (Syringa vulgaris) and fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus). 

Height: If treated as a vine, the angelwing jasmine can be 15-20' or more long. If used as a shrub, it's usually pruned to be 2-4' tall.

In Syria, jasmine is the symbolic flower of Damascus, which is called the City of Jasmine. In Thailand, jasmine flowers are used as a symbol for motherhood.

Madurai, a city in Tamil Nadu is famous for its Jasmine production. In the western and southern states of India, including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, jasmine is cultivated in private homes.

 These flowers are used in regular worship and for hair ornaments. Jasmine is also cultivated commercially, for both the domestic and industrial uses such as the perfume industry.

 It is used in rituals like marriages, religious ceremonies and festivals. In the Chandan Yatra of lord Jagannath, the deity is bathed with water flavored in sandalwood paste and jasmine.

Trees and Electricity

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 229-365

Trees produce electricity and can give if out - it appears that trees resonate at 7.8 Hz like soil and out brains - so trees must have some balancing function.

A team from QUT’s International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health (ILAQH), led by Professor Lidia Morawska, and including Dr. Rohan Jayaratne and Dr. Xuan Ling, ran experiments in six locations all over Brisbane and found that positive and negative ion concentrations in the air were twice as high in heavily wooded areas than in open grassy areas, such as parks.

In 1891, Nikola Tesla gave a lecture for the members of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in New York City, where he made a striking demonstration. In each hand he held a gas discharge tube, an early version of the modern fluorescent bulb. The tubes were not connected to any wires, but nonetheless they glowed brightly during his demonstration. Tesla explained to the awestruck attendees that the electricity was being transmitted through the air by the pair of metal sheets which sandwiched the stage. He went on to speculate how one might increase the scale of this effect to transmit wireless power and information over a broad area, perhaps even the entire Earth. As was often the case, Tesla's audience was engrossed but bewildered.

 Other Experiments

Connecting electrodes driven into a tree trunk and the ground nearby can provide a current. But last year Andreas Mershin's team at MIT showed that using electrodes made of the same metal also gives a current, meaning another effect must be at work. Mershin thinks the electricity derives from a difference in pH between the tree and the soil, a chemical imbalance maintained by the tree's metabolic processes.

Trees seem capable of providing a constant voltage of anywhere between 20 and a few hundred millivolts – way below the 1.5 volts from a standard AA battery and close to the level of background electrical noise in circuits.

We can  to obtain a usable voltage from big-leaf maple trees by adding a device called a voltage boost converter. The converter spends most of its time in a kind of stand-by mode as it stores electrical energy from the tree, periodically releasing it at 1.1 volts.

Trees could power gadgets to monitor their own physiology or their immediate surroundings, for ecological research. 

Energy harvested from trees can power sensors that monitor temperature and humidity inside forests. It is done in Canton, Massachusetts.

Links

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/tesla/lostjournals/lostjournals07.htm